Bella Coola Heli

Overall Rating

Bella Coola Heli Sports

Heli skiing with Bella Coola Heli Sport is an awesome way to get your fix of deep powder skiing or snowboarding. Up in Bella Coola, powderhounds don’t just drool over powder or sniff out some fresh powder stashes; powder hounds gobble up powder, one fresh line after another!

Bella Coola Heli Sports can’t guarantee chest deep powder, but they certainly stack the cards in your favour! The heli skiing terrain is perfectly located in a transition zone between a wetter Pacific climate and a dry BC Interior climate. The coastal component contributes to HUGE AMOUNTS of snow, with an average of 20-30 metres (65 to 100 feet) of snow each winter. This is twice as much snow as many of the interior BC heli skiing companies (e.g. Revelstoke heli skiing), so don’t just pack your snorkel, pack your scuba gear! Best of all, the snowpack is generally much more stable than the Interior BC, so experts are more likely to be able to plunge down steep terrain and bag big lines.

BC Heli Sports use small powerful helicopters and have small group heli skiing, which offers many advantages over some other heliskiing Canada companies that have tour bus sized groups. Small helicopters can land in tight spots, so there are more terrain choices, and small groups allow for easier grouping by ability. The Bella Coola Helisports wilderness lodging is also intimate and exclusive.

Bella Coola Heli Skiing Packages

Bella Coola Heli Sports offer multi-day trips of 3, 4, 5 or 7 days duration. During peak season, some packages are for 7 days only. Bella Coola has a range of packages including expert-only trips, and private heli skiing.

Where is Bella Coola Helisports Located?
Bella Coola Heli Sports is located in a delightfully isolated utopia, near the town of Bella Coola, in the Coast Range of British Columbia. Bella Coola is a 1:15 hour flight north of Vancouver (a 722km trip via road and ferry). The primary lodge is located only 30 minutes east of the Bella Coola Airport in the eastern end of the Bella Coola Valley within Tweedsmuir Park.

The location equates to much less travel time than for many other Canadian heli skiing companies, and it’s possible to heliski on both your arrival and departure day!

Getting to Bella Coola is super easy because the travel is all looked after by BC Helisports. The flights between Vancouver and Bella Coola are included as part of the package (or to Anahim Lake if you’re on the Pantheon package), as is the transport to the lodge.

Bella Coola Heliskiing Terrain

The size of the Bella Coola Helisports terrain is absolutely massive, although “massive” might be a massive understatement! The gi-normous terrain is over 10,700 square kilometres (2.64 million acres), making it the biggest Canadian heli skiing tenure. Its size completely dwarfs the big Whistler Blackcomb, which is only 1/325th the size of Bella Coola Helisports.

Many of the runs are leg-burningly delicious, with some long descents of 5,000 to 6,000 vertical feet (1,500 to 1,800 vertical metres). An average day of heli skiing consists of anywhere from 15,000 vertical feet to 30,000 vertical feet of powder skiing.

This vast area has an amazing diversity of dramatic mountain terrain. The alpine terrain is Bella Coola’s specialty with a range of bowls, glaciers and chutes. The tenure also has plenty of tree skiing, which is handy for getting out during stormy weather days. As a minimum, skiers and snowboarders should be of at least strong intermediate ability (ie can confidently ski off-piste blue runs and some black runs).

More Reasons to Heli Ski with Bella Coola
Like other Canada heli skiing operators, Bella Coola is a member of HeliCat Canada, which has very comprehensive safety guidelines for minimising risk in the backcountry. BC Helisports has very qualified and experienced guides, and the provision of safety equipment such as airbags to all guests, adds to the emphasis on safety.

Bella Coola Heli Skiing has some other major strong points. It’s quick and easy to get to. The heli skiing and lodging experiences are intimate with only small groups, the terrain is colossal, and the snowpack reduces the likelihood of just skiing ho-hum mellow slopes. This heli skiing isn’t just steep, it’s majorly deep too. Zip up the armpits on your jacket and keep your mouth closed… unless of course you want powder for lunch! Fire up the Contour head cam and make some ski porn!

MML

Thomas Geiser25/03/2018

Was great with great guiding, heli flying and housing in Mystery Mountain Lodge ! Great compliment to all the staff !

However, the showers in MML need to be urgently repaired. Unexpectedly very hot or very cold water running, probably depending on water use in kitchen or other bathrooms. Got burned by suddenly running very hot water.

Bella Coola Heli rocks

Elise Bocking13/03/2017

We nailed with the weather and snowpack and had the best week ever! I can honestly we had fresh tracks every run. There is so much terrain that you could never get bored. The guides were very knowledgeable and our pilot was amazing. I was blown away by some of the places that he landed the chopper! That is also one of the benefits of small group (4 pax) small chopper and talented pilot , you get to land in more exciting places!
We stayed at Eagle Lodge and it had a lovely vibe. Nothing was too much trouble for the staff, they made you feel right at home and the food was fabulous. 10 out of 10!

Absolutely Epic!!

Scott07/03/2017

Bella Coola is phenomenal. The scale of the terrain is next level and the whole operation is 5 star. We had 6 consecutive days of the best alpine skiing imaginable and were treated like royalty every night at the lodge. This is the wildest part of the BC coastal range and we were constantly in awe of the sheer size of the terrain. There is no "snow farming" by the guides here. When safe from cliff bands or crevasses we were actively encouraged to spread out and "make a mess of it".This was our bucket list trip but now we are planning how we can get back.

Awesome heli-boarding at Bella Coola!!

Scott12/02/2017

Had a great time and some amazing powder days at Bella Coola Heli-Sports. The guides and staff are top-notch, and they go out of their way to make sure you have a great time. We had knee-deep to waist deep powder. 2 - 4 clients in each heli-group. The food and ambiance of Tweedsmuir Lodge is great. We have already booked again for next year.

Special Place, Special Terrain

Peter Folkman08/04/2016

I took my group of 8 to Tweedsmuir Lodge this March. I have been heliskiing in British Columbia once or twice a year since 1990 and have skied in most of the exotic locations round the world. We had one of the best alpine skiing days ever and some pretty high class other days at Bella Coola. The terrain is big and steep. The small groups with only 2 per heli made it extremely relaxed. The lodge is in a wonderful location which justifies a visit in its own right.

The only reservation, which did not apply to late season skiing is the relatively few trees for those that like me really enjoy the central BC big tree forests.

Nothing to improve

Simon Allen04/04/2016

Had a fantastic time. Excellent set up, relaxed atmosphere, very helpful and considerate staff, expansive skiing terrain, great guides. Really nothing to improve on though would have been great to have had more tree skiing.

NEED. TO. GO. BACK. BAD.

Doug Lewis12/02/2012

Untracked powder EVERY run. Great guides that were both fun and safe. Helicopter rides over breathtaking scenery. Did I mention the untracked powder EVERY run. Freedom to spread my wings and explore the terrain. Great friends and instant new friends. Apres ski food and laughs. More untracked. Incredible meals. Hysterical laughter at dinner reliving each run.

Price p/p
From price based 3 nights twin/double-share lodging high season at Eagle Lodge, 4 possible ski days (2 half-days & 2 full days); includes 42,500 vertical feet of skiing.
Base/invoice currency is in CAD ex taxes.
*Displayed price may vary due to currency fluctuations.

USD4,949

The Classic Vert package is ideal for all levels of heli skiers & boarders from first-timers to experts. Packages are 3, 4, 5 & 7 nights and include a guaranteed vertical. You can join a group as a solo, couple, small group or book an entire lodge with a larger group.
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